On Mother's Day, Payne paid tribute to his partner, tweeting: "Thanks for making the first year of my sons life incredible I've never seen love like this before".

Later in March, Cheryl responded to images of her partner and another woman, saying she was an "innocent dancer colleague of Liam's who has a fiance".

She described speculation over the images as a "desperate attempt to try to cause problems between Liam and I".

According to reports in the national media, the couple amicably agreed to separate two weeks ago.

On Friday, Cheryl celebrated her birthday with former Girls Aloud bandmates Nicola Roberts and Kimberly Walsh.

Hours before their split was announced on Sunday, Payne reminisced about his rise to fame in a Twitter post.

He said: "When I auditioned for X factor 10 years ago I had a hole in my George Asda shoes, borrowed Armandi jeans from a friend just a 14 year old boy with big dreams ... crazy what ten years can do... thank you."

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